All posts tagged gold coins

Thanks to a federal jury in Philadelphia, the federal government on Wednesday inched ever so slightly closer to solving its debt crisis.

The reason: a jury found that ten famous $20 gold pieces that would be worth millions on the open market are actually the property of the U.S. Treasury and not the property of the heirs of Israel Switt, a Philadelphia jeweler. Click here for the story from the Philadelphia Inquirer; click here for an earlier story from the WSJ’s Peter Loftus on the case.

According to the Inquirer, after about five hours of deliberation after a seven day trial, the jury said the government proved that when the rare “Double-Eagle” coins ended up in Switt’s hands, they did not get there legitimately. That is, there was no legal way any of the coins could have been removed from the Mint.

“Israel Switt and some of his friends stole 1933 double eagles from the Philadelphia Mint,” Romero said during closing arguments Tuesday.

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